Princess of the Morning Sky

This view greeted us upon arriving in Manila at 5AM this morning . She was unmistakable -- Venus, the morning star -- as large and as bright as a -4.5 magnitude heavenly body could be. She just took the sleepiness away from a 10 hour overnight bus ride and erased the memory of 5 days of heavy rains.

We spent the post-Christmas holidays in rain-drenched and under-state-of-calamity Albay. Imagine the weather difference that a distance of 500+ kilometers affords. Venus and the sky she dominates could have been much more magnificent had there been even a single cloudless night in the dark provincial skies of Albay.

Photo taken under a 20 second exposure. The three stars of Scorpius' head and "shoulders" can be seen between the roof and Venus.